The present invention relates generally to the field of solid state electrochemical devices, and more particularly to methods of fabricating substrate, electrode and cell structures for solid state electrochemical devices.
Solid state electrochemical devices are often implemented as cells including two porous electrodes, the anode and the cathode, and a dense solid electrolyte and/or membrane which separates the electrodes. For the purposes of this application, unless otherwise explicit or clear from the context in which it is used, the term “electrolyte” should be understood to include solid oxide membranes used in electrochemical devices, whether or not potential is applied or developed across them during operation of the device. In many implementations, such as in fuel cells and oxygen and syn gas generators, the solid membrane is an electrolyte composed of a material capable of conducting ionic species, such as oxygen ions, or hydrogen ions, yet has a low electronic conductivity. In other implementations, such as gas separation devices, the solid membrane is composed of a mixed ionic electronic conducting material (“MIEC”). In each case, the electrolyte/membrane must be dense and pinhole free (“gas-tight”) to prevent mixing of the electrochemical reactants. In all of these devices a lower total internal resistance of the cell improves performance.
The ceramic materials used in conventional solid state electrochemical device implementations can be expensive to manufacture, difficult to maintain (due to their brittleness) and have inherently high electrical resistance. The resistance may be reduced by operating the devices at high temperatures, typically in excess of 900° C. However, such high temperature operation has significant drawbacks with regard to the device maintenance and the materials available for incorporation into a device, particularly in the oxidizing environment of an oxygen electrode, for example.
The preparation of solid state electrochemical cells is well known. For example, a typical solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is composed of a dense electrolyte membrane of a ceramic oxygen in conductor, a porous anode layer of a ceramic, a metal or, most commonly, a ceramic-metal composite (“cermet”), in contact with the electrolyte membrane on the fuel side of the cell, and a porous cathode layer of a mixed ionically/electronically-conductive (MIEC) metal oxide on the oxidant side of the cell. Electricity is generated through the electrochemical reaction between a fuel (typically hydrogen produced from reformed methane) and an oxidant (typically air). This net electrochemical reaction involves charge transfer steps that occur at the interface between the ionically-conductive electrolyte membrane, the electronically-conductive electrode and the vapor phase (fuel or oxygen). The contributions of charge transfer step, mass transfer (gas diffusion in porous electrode), and ohmic losses due to electronic and ionic current flow to the total internal resistance of a solid oxide fuel cell device can be significant. Moreover, in typical device designs, a plurality of cells are stacked together and connected by one or more interconnects. Resistive loss attributable to these interconnects can also be significant.
In work reported by de Souza and Visco (de Sourza, S.; Visco, S. J.; De Jonghe, L. C. Reduced-temperature solid oxide fuel cell based on YSZ thin-film electrolyte. Journal of the Electrochemical Society, vol. 144, (no. 3), Electrochem. Soc., March 1997, p. L35-7.7 ), a thin film of yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) is deposited onto a porous cermet electrode substrate and the green assembly is co-fired to yield a dense YSZ film on a porous cermet electrode. A thin cathode is then deposited onto the bilayer, fired, and the assembly is tested as an SOFC with good results. In work reported by Minh (Minh, N. Q. (Edited by: Dokiya, M.; Yamamoto, O.; Tagawa, H.; Singhal, S. C.) Development of thin-film solid oxide fuel cells for power generation applications. Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC-IV), (Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC-IV), Proceedings of Fourth International Symposium Solid Oxide Fuel Cells, Yokohama, Japan, 18-23 June 1995.) Pennington, N.J., USA: Electrochem. Soc., 1995, p. 138-45), a similar thin-film SOFC is fabricated by tape calendaring techniques to yield a good performing device. However, these Ni-YSZ supported thin-film structures are mechanically weak, and will deteriorate if exposed to air on SOFC cool-down due to the oxidation of Ni to NiO in oxidizing environments. Also, nickel is a relatively expensive material, and to use a thick Ni-YSZ substrate as a mechanical support in a solid state electrochemical device will impose large cost penalties.
Solid state electrochemical devices are becoming increasingly important for a variety of applications including energy generation, oxygen separation, hydrogen separation, coal gasification, and selective oxidation of hydrocarbons. These devices are typically based on electrochemical cells with ceramic electrodes and electrolytes and have two basic designs: tubular and planar. Tubular designs have traditionally been more easily implemented than planar designs, and thus have been preferred for commercial applications. Presently, the electrolyte layer is deposited onto the porous tube through physical vapor deposition techniques known as electrochemical vapor deposition. Although this technique produces excellent films, it is inherently a batch process and capital intensive.
If a wet technique could be used to deposit a film onto the LSM tube, substantial cost savings could be realized. However, attempts to use colloidal deposition techniques failed due to the large volumetric changes in the electrolyte during sintering which are not compensated by concomitant shrinkage of the substrate. Therefore it was recognized that a key issue for success would be to maximize the green density of the deposited film in order to minimize shrinkage of the film shrinkage and build up of stresses in the film which may lead to cracking or delamination. Initial attempts to fabricate high quality films (onto a non-shrinking substrate) by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) according to established practices failed.
Accordingly, away of reducing the materials and manufacturing costs and increasing the reliability of solid state electrochemical devices, such as depositing a film via EPD, would be of great benefit and, for example, might allow for the commercialization of such devices previously too expensive, inefficient or unreliable.